Throughout history, the bravest revolutionaries who changed history for the better willingly did so in the face of great personal danger and hardship. Nowhere was this more evident than in our Revolutionary War against Great Britain, from 1775-1783.

The intent here is not to recount an event-by-event history of the 13 colonies’ War for Independence, but instead, to remind readers of the amazing large-scale personal sacrifices that accompanied that effort:

• Farmers, shopkeepers, ranchers, et al, gave up their personal businesses. They put everything on the line and often lost it all, but they were committed to the cause.
• There was no large-scale transportation in the 18^th century. Those men were absent from their families for long, totally unpredictable lengths of time without any means of rapid communication.
• They willingly put themselves in great personal danger, including reprisals against their families, not knowing what would happen at home. There also was a low likelihood of military victory, they were poorly equipped, and poorly paid.
• There was great uncertainty following the military victory—could the new United States function as a country? Would the States cooperate with each other? Could the country secure international trade deals and parers? Could the country defend itself? There were no guarantees. The men fighting in 1775 and on through 1783 could not know if they were fighting for something that would have permanence, even if they were successful militarily. Yet they stayed committed.

The newest supposed social revolution in American society today is the so-called “woke” revolution. Today’s liberal politicians are woke. Important cultural and entertainment figures espouse woke positions. Large corporations such as Coca-Cola proudly flaunt their nouveau wokeness. Liberal mainstream journalism supports the woke philosophy and approach. Virtually all hard-core, deeply committed liberal voters self-identify as woke-aware and woke-savvy. 

It’s telling that a major social movement has such an imprecise definition (Is it “Woke-ism?” Is it “Wokism?” Or is it “Wokeness?” See what I mean?), but the notion of "woke" is essentially this:

A social/political outlook characterized by a strong adherence to whatever current politically correct tenets are in vogue at that particular time, under a thick veneer of socialist economics, income redistribution and central government planning/control.

The essential difference between the woke revolution and a legitimate revolution such as the American War for Independence is this: The Woke-ists are risking nothing. They have no skin in the game. Being woke is risk-free. It’s easy. Too easy.

Here are your Wokesters, the ones who dabble at this without commitment, secure in their knowledge that they can leave, penalty-free, at any time:

• Tenured professors at leftist universities.  They preach their leftist claptrap to impressionable 19-year-olds, pat themselves on the back for being so enlightened and perceptive and then drive their BMWs to their brownstone condos and enjoy deep conversations with like-minded colleagues over a bottle of $75 Chardonnay.
• Liberal journalists whose positions are safe and secure, giving them the freedom to criticize without fear of professional penalty.
• Coddled upper-middle-class “protesters” from well-to-do backgrounds who have every material cushion imaginable and who view the entire protest/statue toppling exercise as a feel-good sport that somehow establishes their social commitment and credibility.
• “Takers” who are already getting their federal handouts, already feeding at the public trough, definitely not putting a carefully nurtured private sector career in jeopardy. In other words, it’s all for show; they have nothing to lose.
• Companies, too, are making a coldly-calculated business decision: they’ve carefully weighed the potential loss of business that remaining non-woke might entail and if embracing woke-ism seems to be an advantageous business proposition, then let the anti-conservative rhetoric begin!
• And, of course, there is the great swath of upper middle-class liberal woke sympathizers. These are the Leftist Boomers and older X-er professionals who are emotionally-aligned with any anti-conservative movement, reflexively rooting for any counter-Trump position that comes down the pike. (One has to wonder how long President Trump will continue to dominate their political psyche, destroying any semblance of logical, sequential economic and social reasoning capability they might have left. It’s both amusing and pathetic.)

Wokeness is not a revolution or even a legitimate political movement. It’s a play on words, with artificially invented, indefinable—and therefore unaccountable—terminology. The woke do not stand not for anything—they are merely against things: Against traditional American values, against American history, against being socially and professionally accountable, against having to work hard in order to achieve material wealth and social standing. They are against adhering to the rules of a civilized society. They are against being judged on the merits of their ideas and performance. They are against being judged by the content of their character.

The problem is, of course, that Democrat party vote-fixing has made the permanent establishment of national woke laws a real possibility. A merit-based market economy that encourages and rewards ingenuity, ambition and hard work is now in serious jeopardy. No one votes to reduce or eliminate their own government-paid handouts. Central to woke-ism is the belief that the federal government’s responsibility and main function is to take care of every individual for their entire life. Guaranteed income. Guaranteed work. Equity. Income redistribution. Reparations.

Wealthy liberals don’t care about this because they already have “theirs” and their lives won’t be affected. Less wealthy liberals are looking forward to more government-provided handouts. Both of those groups are chomping at the bit to see conservatives suffer what they feel is some well-deserved pain. This is where we are now as a country. Woke-ism is not a revolutionary movement. It’s a nation inexplicably holding a gun to its own head and threatening to shoot.

Image: 4Chan-origin meme

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